The “hero” who opened up on Philando Castille last year, killing him, has been acquitted of all charges – even the relatively trivial counts of intentional discharge of firearm that endangers safety.
Because – clearly – blasting off rounds at near point-blank range into a car occupied by innocent people who had committed no crime at all, not even a traffic violation (Castille was pulled over because he “looked like” someone else whom the “heroes” were hunting) doesn’t “endanger safety.”
Well, except Castille’s – and that of his girlfriend, who sat inches away from him as he was shot to death by “hero” cop Jeronimo Yanez.
Expect unrest.
Several members of the Castile family screamed profanities and cried after the verdicts were announced, despite warnings from the judge that everyone in the courtroom should remain composed.
“Let me go!” yelled Castile’s mother, Valerie.
The families of Castile and Yanez were escorted out of separate courtroom exits. At least 13 other “heroes” were present in the small courtroom when the verdicts were read.
Outside court, Valerie Castile said she was disappointed in the state of Minnesota, “Because nowhere in the world do you die from being honest and telling the truth.
“The system continues to fail black people,” she said. “My son loved this city and this city killed my son and the murderer gets away! Are you kidding me right now?
“We’re not evolving as a civilization, we’re devolving. We’re going back down to 1969. What is it going to take?
The jury deliberated about 29 hours about the July 6 traffic stop and heard two weeks of testimony in which prosecutors portrayed Yanez as a nervous officer who lost control of his traffic stop.
He was too quick to pull the trigger after learning Castile had a gun, based on an unreasonable suspicion that he was a robbery suspect, they said.
Yanez, a St. Anthony officer, testified he feared for his life because Castile reached for his firearm, despite being instructed not to do.
Yanez’s lawyers alleged Castile had been smoking marijuana the day of the shooting, which they said affected his judgment.
An audio recording captured Castile telling Yanez he had a gun in the car, and the officer telling Castile not to reach for it.
Seconds later, Yanez opened fire.
Castile, who was bleeding heavily in the Facebook video, said he wasn’t reaching for his gun, which he had a permit to carry. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, said Castile was reaching for his ID in his back pocket when he was shot.
If he’d been convicted, Yanez could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined $20,000 on the manslaughter charge and five years and fined $5,000 on each of the other charges.
Yanez not only goes free – he is free to remain a “hero.”
I live in the Minneapolis/St.Paul cities and almost got caught up in the “demonstration” Friday night, i left the area 30 mins before they blocked the highway. I told my wife that if i ever get killed like that i expect a riot on my behalf too.
It’s beyond time for family members and friends of the victims of these “heroes” to administer some street justice to the perpetrators; it would be nice to see them REALLY “fear for their life” , and will be the only way to stop the slide into total tyranny in Amerika. Solzhenitsyn made that point in his writing, I hope it’s not too late for us.
Now there’ll be a civil trial and several million transferred from taxpayers to the victim’s family. We’re devolving and going back way further than 1969 I’d say.
You may want to issue an update: Yanez was fired.
I live in the Minneapolis/St.Paul cities and almost got caught up in the “demonstration” Friday night, i left the area 30 mins before they blocked the highway. I told my wife that if i ever get killed like that i expect a riot on my behalf too.
It’s beyond time for family members and friends of the victims of these “heroes” to administer some street justice to the perpetrators; it would be nice to see them REALLY “fear for their life” , and will be the only way to stop the slide into total tyranny in Amerika. Solzhenitsyn made that point in his writing, I hope it’s not too late for us.
““The system continues to fail black people,””
No, the system continues to fail EVERYONE! Nothing is ever going to get fixed until all of this racial/poverty stuff is removed.
The “system” mentioned above failed the Hell out of people like Kelly Thomas.
Now there’ll be a civil trial and several million transferred from taxpayers to the victim’s family. We’re devolving and going back way further than 1969 I’d say.